Mac OS X Public Beta

What is Mac OS X Public Beta?

Let's disassemble the product name "Mac OS X Public Beta." First,
Mac OS X (yes, still pronounced "ten", not "ex") is the name of
Apple's upcoming next generation operating system. The five previous
articles in this series should give you a good picture of the Mac OS X
development process so far:

Next, the word "Public" signifies that the product is for sale to
anyone with $29.95. Previous releases of Mac OS X have been available
only to registered Apple developers.

Finally, the "Beta" means...well, what does it mean? Some people
contend that "beta" means "feature-complete, but still buggy." Others
consider it simply "more stable than alpha." The only real common
ground these days is that "beta" means "unfinished." Whether that means
merely that bugs still exist or that entire features remain
unimplemented has to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Taken all together, "Mac OS X Public Beta" (referred to as "Public
Beta" or just "Beta" in this article) means that for $29.95 you get an
unfinished, buggy version of Apple's next generation operating system.
Charging for public beta software is increasingly common among the big
software companies. I paid for my copy, and it doesn't bother me too
much. If you don't want to pay for buggy software, don't buy the beta.
(Save your complaining for the price tag on the final Mac OS X release
;-)

Ideally, Apple would make the beta available for free download,
possibly with the caveat that downloading does not entitle the user to
the same feedback privileges afforded to paying customers. This would
require some sort of proof-of-purchase verification during the feedback
process. Currently, Apple's form for Mac OS X
Beta feedback is open to anyone, since (presumably) anyone that has
a copy of Beta is a paying customer. In reality, you can find disk
images of the beta online with a little effort, and since there's no
purchase verification, your feedback has the same weight as the paying
users' does. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I guess.

Public Beta has been anxiously awaited by many Mac fans, even those
that had access to the developer releases. Readers of this series are
no doubt wondering if the issues raised in previous articles have been
addressed in Beta. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but anyone who's
read about the basic features of Public Beta elsewhere on the web ought
to know the answer to that question already. Ask yourself how different
Mac OS X Public Beta is from the last development release, Mac
OS X DP4.

Still not sure (or in denial ;-) about how Beta stacks up? Read
on and find out.

NOTE WELL: This article deals with
Mac OS X Public Beta, NOT Mac OS X. Mac OS X Public Beta
is a work in progress, not a finished product. You can, however,
purchase Public Beta as an actual product, so it will be subject to a
more critical eye than the developer releases were. Any and all
features present in Public Beta are subject to change before release,
but the window for such changes continues to shrink as APIs get locked
down and software developers move their Mac OS X products closer to
completion.